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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396212">Ultimately</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARTIMANE/pseuds/ARTIMANE'>ARTIMANE</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Atypical (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:34:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396212</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARTIMANE/pseuds/ARTIMANE</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Yes I am.. Nate’s an asshole and deserved everything he got. I was just trying to prote-” I don’t need you to protect me!” Izzie yells cutting her off.</p><p>Casey stares at her in shock as Izzie starts to tear up. “I don’t want you to protect me” she whispers as her voice cracks.</p><p>or</p><p>Casey and Izzie reevaluate their relationship after an encounter with nate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Casey Gardner/Izzie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ultimately</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Ultimately I don’t understand a thing. I try to do the best I can. I know you try to do the same.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Casey I don’t need you to handle things for me.” Izzie throws away the bloody cotton and storms out the bathroom. “You shouldn’t have done that”</p><p>Casey follows her trying to not clumsily trip over her track bag. “Why are you mad at me? Was I just supposed to stand there and let him talk shit about you?”</p><p>Izzie turns around sharply with a glare in her eyes.</p><p>“Yes! Do exactly that! I told you to walk away and you didn’t listen to me. None of this would have happened if you just ignored him”</p><p>Casey stares at her in confusion. She understands she acts impulsively sometimes but isn’t this the perfect time for that. He Wouldn’t stop so she handled it like she always has. Every time someone picked on Sam at her old school she would always help fend for him.</p><p>“Well if I did he would have kept messing with you Izzie.” Casey lets out a dry chuckle. “I still don’t understand why you’re mad at me”</p><p>Izzie looks at her in shock like it should be obvious. “Are you serious right now?”</p><p>“Yes, I am.. Nate’s an asshole and deserved everything he got. I was just trying to prote-” I don’t need you to protect me!” Izzie yells cutting her off.</p><p>Casey stares at her in shock as Izzie starts to tear up. “I don’t want you to protect me” she whispers as her voice cracks</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>We're just so bound to make mistakes. You could call it a disposition.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Damn Izzie, I knew you and Casey were close but I didn't think you would replace me with a full-on dyke.”</p><p>Casey had just finished running her laps at the end of track practice. Izzie couldn’t participate because she had injured her left leg. Casey was walking back to the bleachers where Izzie was sitting and sat next to her so they could finish their homework. Half of the time spent was just them fooling around throwing pencils at each other. For once Izzie felt at peace. They were almost done until Nate walked up to them.</p><p>Izzie rolls her eyes, used to the mindless insults from Nate. “What do you want man?” Casey puts her arm around Izzie protectively and Nate rolls his eyes at that.</p><p>“I want you to tell me what Casey has that I don't.” Nate slurs his words while he talks.</p><p>Casey Looks at him with disgust. “Are you seriously drunk at school”. She looks at him and notices how messed up his appearance is. His jean jacket is ripped up while his shirt is stained all over. Ever since he and Izzie broke up he’s hit a major low in his life. Showing up to classes late and his grades were slipping. He refused to talk to them at all until now.</p><p>Nate ignores Casey and Laughs to himself. “Fucking should have known, you know what? I Don’t need you. You're nothing but a slut. To think I even had feelings for you, feelings that you never deserved in the first place. You’re just like your fucking mom. A slut and a godamn whor-”</p><p>Nate recoils back as a fist connects with his jaw. He looks up and he sees Casey standing over him with a dark glare on her face. A throbbing pain flows through her hands but she ignores it. “Come on, finish the sentence Nate”</p><p>“Casey lets go, we can finish at home” Izzie tries but Casey stands her ground.</p><p>He looks up to her with a smirk and charges towards her. They both fall down with him on top and he punches her square in the eye. She yells in pain as she tries to push him off. She punches him in the nose and as he goes to cradle it Casey punches him again. She keeps punching him over and over again. Izzie grabs Casey's shoulders to get her to stop. They Flip over as she straddles him and keeps hitting him right in the face.</p><p>“Casey Stop! Come one, Coach Briggs is coming, we have to go!” Izzie Grabs her arm and pulls her off. They see Coach Briggs running towards them so they run to Casey's car. Izzie grabs Casey's keys out of her pocket and pushes Casey into the backseat. She jumps in the front and they drive off.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>I apologize for all your tears. I wish I could be different.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The room falls silent after the sudden outburst. Casey looks at Izzie with a blank expression which quickly turns to concern when she sees the tears in her eyes. Izzie sits down on her bed as she progressively starts crying more. Casey stands in the middle of the room quietly not knowing what she did and how to fix it. She’s never been good with crying and usually freezes up during it. Izzie starts breathing heavily and that snaps Casey out of her daze. A panic attack, She knows what that looks like. She used to ride with her dad in the ambulance and distract teens and kids while her dad goes and tends to injuries. She sits next to Izzie and holds her close to her as she struggles to breathe.</p><p>“Izzie it’s ok... I’m here, just count with me” Casey says while she counts to ten repeatedly. Izzie silent for a few seconds but then joins in on the third time. They keep doing it until Izzie calms down a little.</p><p>Casey just holds Izzie and winces when her head touches her injured eye. Izzie looks up and starts crying more. “I’m sorry, oh god I’m so sorry Casey” she starts to breakdown again after saying her name. Casey just holds her closer.</p><p>“No...no I’m fine! Trust me, you should have seen the other guy” Casey smirks trying to make light of the situation. After a few awkward seconds Izzie starts giggling a little.</p><p>“I did see the other guy” Izzie says while burying her face in Izzie’s shoulder. They both start laughing quietly for like a minute. Caseys glad to see Izzie happy even if its to expense of her terrible joke. They both go quiet for a few just enjoying the presence of each other.</p><p>But I'm still growing up, Into the one you can call your love.</p><p>“You know I love you right,” Casey says pressing a kiss to Izzie’s forehead. Izzie smiles but doesn’t say anything so Casey keeps going. “You mean so much to me that I don’t even think I can put it in words. Nates just an asshole and didn’t deserve you” Casey looks away before she finishes.</p><p>You didn’t deserve him either, you deserved so much better” She says, her voice breaking a little.</p><p>Izzie looks up to Casey and lightly grabs her chin. Casey reluctantly looks at her and Izzie can see she has tears on her face. Casey wipes her face and looks down. Izzie hesitates a little then starts speaking.</p><p>“Look, I do have better, I have way more than better actually. Sometimes I think I have too much which makes me overwhelmed. Nate would have never done for me what you did. His friends would just talk about me around him and he would laugh along. I really didn’t mean to snap at you today, I’m just...not used to someone caring about me like that”</p><p>“Then get used to it Iz cause I’m not leaving” Casey responds. Izzie looks into her eyes and sees so much love and devotion that she can’t look away.</p><p>They’re both silent for a minute as Izzie gets lost in her thoughts. She has never met anyone like Casey. No one has ever given her the same love and respect as she does and it scares her. Casey is everything you would want in a possible partner and she’s not. Like right now, Casey’s showing her endless love even after she yelled at her. Izzie makes a decision she really doesn’t want to make but knows she needs to.</p><p>“Well maybe you need to”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>I don't know if I'll ever be enough. I'm throwing in my chips, I guess I tend to push my luck. And ultimately I believe we'll be okay. t's so cliché to say these things, but repetition is a key. I think I'm better when I'm with you but I worry when you're gone. I think I need to learn to love myself I must learn to be strong.  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>(One year later)</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Casey looks on to the crowd as she sees her family cheering for her. They had a sign that said “Casey for the win!” and usually she would be embarrassed but now she just grateful there here. She walks up to the track and gets in position as she waits for the call to go. This is her last race of the semester. She honestly doesn’t even need to win this race because she already got into a college that’s really good for the track but she never lets up for a race.</p><p>Soon as the gunshot goes off she takes off and ends up in front of everyone. She ends up winning the race by a landslide. She looks to the crowd again and sees her family celebrating. Even Zahid showed up. She throws a thumbs up to them as she walks back to her teammates. She high fives and hugs almost everyone on the team while looking for someone.</p><p>Izzie slowly walks over to her as Casey stands there awkwardly. They decided to take a break until Izzie could work on her self worth but Casey was reluctant about it at first. But then she realized it must have been very important to her so she respected her decision.<br/>
Izzie smiles at her and Casey smiles back. She doesn’t believe in fate but somehow she knows someday they will get back together.</p>
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